European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 09, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday septembers 1989 the stars and stripes Page 11 Arm Landers letters dear Ann Landers May i respond to bewildered in Glencoe who wanted to know Why women Settle Tor men who arc liars loafers cheats and freeloaders it s because mothers raise their daughters with the notion that they arc Only half a person until some Man comes along and makes them whole. In other words females arc conditioned to � believe that half a Man even if he of is a Jerk is better than no Man at. All. Let s face it Ann women Are their own worst enemies. They dote on their sons and compete with their daughters. When mothers Stop idolizing their sons and give Small fraction of that adoration to their daughters we will Sec a new and More equitable social order and a healthier less sexist society. Sign me a Star witness in Delta Colo. Dear Star. There is More than 9 germ of truth in what you have written. The women s movement however has done a Brest Deal to elevate women and rive them equal opportunities. We be come a Long Way but we have a Long Way to  for focusing on an Issue that needs More Light and less heat. Dear readers recently an English student inquired about the mean ing of the expression Independent As a hog on  i said i did t know but i was sore some of my readers would come to the Rescue. Letters from people who did know arrived by the Bush Elb Asket and thousands of other readers wanted to know about other sayings. Here s what my week has been like dear Ann Landers i m sending you a Book by Charles Earl Funk titled a hog on ice and other curious  you will see that it says the facts arc that a hog on a smooth icy surface cannot move about in a Normal manner. The pads on his feet offer no resistance to Slippery or smooth icy surfaces. His feet slide out from under him and his legs either spread out or arc driven under him and he usually has to be dragged off to a firm  you la note also Ann that the rest of the saying is if he can t stand up he will Lay  it follows then that when someone says he is about As Independent As a hog on ice it Means that he i cocky and stubborn and will neither acknowledge nor accept help no matter How much he needs it. Detroit from Tallahassee Fla after you find out about that hog on ice Ann will you ask your readers what it Means when a person says butter would t melt in his Mouth docs it mean that he is cold duplicitous phony or what Hayward Calif All my life i have heard people say snug As a Bug in a  it seems to me that a Bug in a Rug would be most uncomfortable since a Rug is not its natural habitat an the Bug would be in great danger of being squashed. Who makes up these senseless sayings anyway  where did that expression the whole nine Yards originate lately i hear it wherever i go. For example question How was the wedding answer great they had fabulous food an open bar the whole nine Yards. It s Ann again dear readers. You la notice that i have not responded to these questions and i Don t plan to but you can bet your hippy i la get a Load of opinions in the next few weeks. Write on biodegradable plastic bags discussed an oops has been made. I just thought i d brine in to your and other readers attention in a kind Ana gentle Way. Of course. It seems that just As we re hearing of the suffocation of our planet by the disposal of trash that takes hundreds of years to Ducom Pusc the commissary starts handing out plastic bags in place of paper usually doubled. A thousand pardons if these bags arc indeed biodegradable and i did t know it. If so Hooray for whomever is responsible if not now you know there arc biodegradable plastic bags. A Short to the poem message should also be printed on the biodegradable bag for two reasons first Withall the fuss made Over Good relations with our Host country i m certain it would be to our Benefit when they find we arc taking just one More step towards prolonging the life of Earth not to mention their part for humanity. Second the Power of suggestion not unlike peer pressure has been proved touring results. Just seeing the word biodegradable printed on a bag enough times can Start a person s subconscious to change the Way they live. And would t that be just Fine with our children and our children s children where arc the recycling centers such a list of locations would probably bring an outpouring of support from the military Community if it could be posted in housing stairwells. Tamara Pushic Birkenfeld West Germany editor s note we received two replies to this letter. The first is from William g. Mackrall Deputy to the commander air Force commissary service of com european Region a coms supports efforts to reduce environmental Impact problems. We contacted our Headquarters equip ment experts to Sec what the policy is on use of biodegradable plastic bags. They had recently attended Brief Ings by bag manufacturers and found that while biodegradable bags Start degrading faster than Normal bags for the first two years for year three to year 35, both bags degrade at basically the same rate. The end result is in about 40 to so years the Bio Der Adahl plastic bags degrade about five Yean faster than regular bags. Biodegradable plastic bags Cost about $50-$55 per Case 1,000 bags and regular plastic bags Cost about $25 per Case 1,000. At this time the very limited Bene fits Are outweighed by the significantly higher Cost of biodegradable bags is. Regular bags. When Industry improves the Quality benefits of biodegradable bags we will re evaluate our policy. The majority of the grocery bags used in our commis Saries arc paper bags which provide a Cost effective environmentally Safe alternate to plastic bags. The second reply is from col. Paul w. Phillips commander . Army troop support Agency euro Pean commissary Region the plastic bags we Are now using Are not biodegradable. The troop support Agency planned to Issue a solicitation for biodegradable plastic bags but Learned that current technology has not been Able to produce a degradable plastic bag that can meet the other specifications needs for a bag that can be used to carry heavy groceries. Tsa has however become a member of he Ameri can society for testing and materials which is in the process of developing standards for the acquisition of degradable plastic bags. Your and Many other customers comments have led us to take a second look at the use of plastic bags incur commissaries. We have decided to conduct a Cost analysis in several of our commissaries to determine whether plastic bags save us a significant amount of Money. We will look at various options including using plastic bags exclusively in express lanes. There is no need to double plastic hags since the Yare capable of withstanding a maximum weight of 2.1 pounds. We plan to Issue a reminder to our buggers that double bagging is unnecessary. We would like to thank you and the Many other customers who let us know How they feel about the use of plastic bags. The voices of our customers arc hear when we look for belter ways of serving the most  error on College s name raises eyebrows could you please clarify a Point for me about your recent Story about Mankind s latest Advance the development of female condoms the a Story states that these things arc being tested on research equipment at the University of san Francisco which happens to be my Alma mater. My mind recently numbed by the wine fast in our Little Village failed to immediately grasp the deep dark humor in this. You Sec. Us is a Catholic University run by the jesuits who arc to the Pope what the is Wasto Hitler. Thus to say that female condoms arc being tested on research equipment at us is like saying that the University of Tehran is having a seminar on wine tasting or Yeshiva University is doing research on hog farming and better ways of cooking pork. I figure that there arc two possibilities Here. The firsts that somebody has confused the University of san Francisco which is a Catholic school run by jesuits with the University of California at san Francisco which is a medical school run by the state. This would not be the first time somebody has made that mistake. The second possibility is that the jesuits at us have developed a machine that actually. No. I can t believe it Michael Corum lands by air station West Germany editor s note Mike Genalo of our new York office asked the a Washington Bureau about this apparent discrepancy. A advises us that the school was mls identified in the source document. A agrees that i should have read University of California san Francis co medical school. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Pen pals i do an algerian student. I am 20 years old. I want to have pen friends Between 18 and 22 Yoars of my hobbies Are playing tooth at.  to music classical country Tlam onco swim mag and making pen intends.  3g big puce due mat Algier Algeria i am 11 years old and would like pen  hobbles Are singing swimming biking and cooking. Cindy Dael 2309 a Danita Street tart Jay Negros Oriental Philippines please add my name to you pen pal list. I am 21 years of and enjoy Reading writing and listen ing to  Maria Fabugais North Poblacion  province Philippin please place my name in tote pen pal column. 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